About NASPI

The mission of the North American SynchroPhasor Initiative (NASPI) is to improve power system reliability and visibility through wide area measurement and control, by fostering the use and capabilities of synchrophasor technology.

Synchrophasors are precise grid measurements available from monitors called phasor measurement units (PMUs). PMU measurements are taken at high speed (typically 30 observations per second, over 100 times faster than conventional SCADA technology). Each measurement is time-stamped according to a common time reference such as GPS. Time-stamping allows measurements from different locations and utilities to be time-aligned (synchronized) and combined together providing a precise and comprehensive view of the entire interconnection. Synchrophasor measurements can be used to indicate grid stress, and can be used to trigger corrective actions to maintain reliability.

The NASPI community is working to advance the deployment and use of networked phasor measurement devices, phasor data-sharing, applications development and use, and research and analysis. Important applications today include wide-area monitoring, real-time operations, power system planning, and forensic analysis of grid disturbances. Phasor technology offers great benefit for integrating renewable and intermittent resources, automated controls for transmission and demand response, increasing transmission system throughput, and improving system modeling and planning.

NASPI is a voluntary group of representatives from the utility industry, manufacturers and vendors, academia, national laboratories, government experts and standards-making bodies. The group meets twice a year to share information and solve technical, operational, institutional, standards development, and other strategic issues and obstacles.

This collaborative effort is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy with support from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Electric Power Research Institute.